Football
"I always say, rather flippantly, but it’s not a million miles from the truth, that football supplies many of the requirements that other people seek and find in religion, with the difference that you can actually see the truth of it being demonstrated on the pitch every Saturday afternoon, and that’s enormously satisfying." - John PeelInterview, When Saturday Comes, issue 10, Sept/Oct 1987, reprinted “The First Eleven”, a retrospective of the football fanzine's first 11 issues. Perhaps more regularly, Peel made similar comments drawing a comparison between religion and supporting Liverpool. See for example, Peeling Back The Years 5 (Transcript). :"I find that football provides any number of useful analogies for life." - John PeelPeeling Back The Years 5 (Transcript). Listeners to John Peel’s radio shows were unlikely to miss his fanatical devotion to Liverpool football team,See preliminary listing of his comments on Football (Matches Mentioned). which went as far as wearing a red suit at his wedding and giving his four children names that included references to the Anfield club.His children were named Alexandra Mary Anfield; Florence Victoria Shankly; Thomas James Dalglish; and William Robert Anfield Ravenscroft. Favourite players, such as Kenny Dalglish, also inspired something close to worship.Peel claimed to have celebrated "Dalglishmas" for many years and said Sheila had to dissuade him from asking the Scottish striker to "bless" their children. (Guardian article, 1994, republished Olivetti Chronicles, hardback, pg. 47-8). Meanwhile, a newspaper flier signed by Billy Liddell, the LFC hero of Peel's schooldays, was kept in his father's old desk and referred to as 'perhaps the most sacred item I own.' As a fan, Peel attended many Liverpool matches – including three European Cup finals – and was deeply affected by the disasters of Heysel and Hillsborough.After being present at Heysel, he stopped going to matches for several years. In later years he went to fewer games, mostly those involving Ipswich Town, his local side, but his on-air comments left little doubt that his heart remained firmly with the Merseyside club.Liverpool-Ipswich matches were never easy, though, for reasons of family harmony. See for example, 15 February 1992, 11 April 2001, 12 February 2002, 14 May 2002. From a wider perspective, the DJ seemed heartened by the emergence of the new fan culture that grew up around the game from the late 1980s, epitomised by the emergence of football fanzines.In Peel's foreword to 'The 1st Eleven", he wrote that fanzines "have rekindled and redirected my enthusiasm for football in a manner I would have gauged impossible after Heysel. Nevertheless, he remained distrustful of the increasing commercialism of the modern game,In Peel's foreword to 'The 1st Eleven", he wrote that the proposed Super League Premiership "still looks like a load of shite to me" and was scornful about the holding of the coming 1994 World Cup in the USA. See also his 30 July 1979 on-air comments about shirt advertising. along the motives of those who ran it, drawing a parallel with music: :Although both are run by vulgarians with nothing but contempt for the paying customers, the product itself in both cases retains the capacity to play upon the emotions in a matter entirely beyond the understanding of said vulgarians.''From foreword to 'The 1st Eleven". In both football and music, Peel appeared reluctant to dwell too much on the past: :''I’m more concerned about what Liverpool do next Saturday than what they’ve done in the past. Their past history, although matchless, isn’t of particular interest to me … It’s the same with the music, when I say I’m more concerned about those records that I have in the back of the car that I’ll listen to this weekend than I am really even in the ones I’ve played in this week’s programmes.Peeling Back The Years 5 (Transcript). Peel also played football from an early age and frequently commented that the only unfulfilled ambition in his life was that he had not played for Liverpool.For example, see both Chain Reaction: David Gedge Interviews John Peel (Transcript) and Chain Reaction: John Peel Interviews Ian Rush (Transcript). When asked to name a luxury as part of his contribution to Desert Island Discs, he chose a football and a wall to kick it against. Supporter Liverpool FC Main article: Liverpool Peel began supporting Liverpool in 1950 at the age of ten, when the team met Arsenal in the FA Cup Final and lost 2-0. Among other consequences, this caused him to place a ban on that team's supporters coming to Peel Acres (with the exception of Robert Wyatt and Alfie), which was "lifted" only in the mid 1990s. Margrave Of The Marshes, p. 72. Manchester United were another club that quickly earned the emnity of the youthful Peel: :At the first boarding school I went to, there were about 80 boys. Seventy-eight of them supported (Manchester) United, I supported Liverpool and there was one boy who wasn't interested in football. So my prejudice against United has been lifelong.BBC online: Funny Old Game. Everton, Liverpool's local rivals, were also on the blacklist, with Peel apparently deciding at an early age he would never go to their Goodison Park ground, even if Liverpool were playing there.See 03 April 1979. Meadowbank Thistle In Scotland, Peel's preferred team were lowly Meadowbank Thistle (relocated and renamed Livingston FC in 1995), whose matches he would try and catch if he could.See, for example, 29 December 1980, 23 March 1981, 17 August 1981 Why? :Entirely because a group of extremely droll supporters invited me to join them for a match and subsequently took me to Hampden Park where 300 benighted souls - and that 300 includes the Queens Park enthusiasts - huddled together on the open terraces across which snow stormed and the wind shrieked in a manner that would have had Amundsen sucking his teeth apprehensively. "Give us an F," they roared. "Give us an I, give us an S, give us a U, give us an L," they continued. "What does that spell?" they wanted to know. "Fisul!" they concluded. How could I have doubted, even for a moment, but I stood and suffered with the very cream of mankind?''Foreword to 'The 1st Eleven". Ipswich Town Peel also followed the fortunes of the nearest club to his home in Suffolk from the 1970s, particularly after his wife Sheila became a big fan, and occasionally went to their matches, including a 6-1 win against Barnsley on his 60th birthday.See Football (Known Matches Attended). Player Peel played football at public school in Shrewsbury, as a right winger., He admitted, though, that his preferred position have been wide on the left, like the Liverpool hero of his schooldays, Billy Liddell. (Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition, p. 71-2). Many years after ending his education, he continued to take part in organised matches; for example, for the Radio 1 team. When interviewing Ian Rush in 1992, Peel was modest about his own abilities as a player: :''I was great at just kicking the ball against a wall, but not much else. The one thing that I could do was kick a ball fairly hard and accurately, so I used to take all the corners and free kicks and stuff like that, but I was never good at anything else.''See Chain Reaction: John Peel Interviews Ian Rush (Transcript). As related in Margrave Of The Marshes (hardback, p. 52) the ability to kick the ball hard was something Peel had also practiced in the garden at home with younger brother Alan in goal: ''"With the ruthlessness and, I like to think, skill of a practiced executioner, I would turn and whack the ball straight at Alan. It usually hit him and carried him into the hedge. and when he had pulled himself out, he would run sobbing into the house..." The DJ, though, was able to boast to the Liverpool striker that he had himself once scored a winning goal at Wembley.Chain Reaction: John Peel Interviews Ian Rush (Transcript). Despite the thwarting of his youthful ambitions to be a Liverpool player, Peel never seemed to quite gave up his dreams. At a special gig to celebrate his 50th birthday, however, he finally admitted: :Think my chances of making the Liverpool side are gone now. Might still be able to get a game at one of those London clubs, though.29 August 1989. Nevertheless, three years later, after LFC lost 5-1 against Coventry, he was wondering whether his services still might be needed (19 December 1992). Football and Music You'll Never Walk Alone Main article: You'll Never Walk Alone The second act ballad from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel was adopted by the Liverpool FC fans as an unofficial anthem in the early 1960s. It held great significance for John, generating in particular (unrealised) plans for an LP of cover versions by session bands. FabricLive07 When Peel was asked to compile his first-ever mix album, it wasn't altogether unexpected when he included personal favourite and live set staple You'll Never Walk Alone, sung by the Kop. Perhaps even less welcome for non-Reds supporters, though, was FabricLive07 kicking off with the BBC radio commentary of Alan Kennedy's winner for Liverpool in the 1981 European Cup Final, played over Asa-Chang & Junray, while 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division also featured Kenny Dalgish's strike in the 1978 European Cup final at Wembley - both goals that Peel had witnessed live. Football Songs :"In the past couple of years, football songs have achieved a sort of curious respectability. Apart of course from those featuring Chas & Dave." (John Peel, TV Hell: Rock Bottom, 1992) While Peel was always more than happy to play football-related records such as 'All I Want For Christmas Is A Sparta Prague Away Kit' by perennial favorites Half Man Half Biscuit, he also enjoyed the cheesier side of football music, with selections from compilations such as Flair 1989 and the Bend It series finding regular plays on his show. In April 1993, he introduced a regular slot for such items when sitting in for a week on Radio One's Jakki Brambles daytime programme. From an earlier era, 'Pass! Shoot!! Goal!!!' by Albert Whelan was picked by Peel for the posthumously released compilation The Pig's Big 78s: A Beginner's Guide. Footballenium In parallel with the Peelenium, the years of the 20th century were counted down on shows from 1999 to early 2000 with parallel Footballenium listings provided by listener Mick Ashman. See Also *Football (Matches Mentioned) *Football (Known Matches Attended) *Interview: On Liverpool FC, Heysel, Hillsborough *Chain Reaction: John Peel Interviews Ian Rush (Transcript) Links *FourFourTwo magazine interview, 2003: Peel discusses Liverpool FC *Kicker Conspiracy: Peel at Prenton Park References Category:Football